SINGAPORE, May 3 (Reuters) - Brent crude held below $103 abarrel on Friday, holding on to most of its steep gains from theprevious session when an interest rate cut by the EuropeanCentral Bank boosted investors' appetite for riskier assets.

The ECB's decision came a day after the Federal Reserverecommitted to its aggressive stimulus programme, helping Brenttrim losses for the week -- down a slight 0.4 percent now versusa more than 3 percent decline at the end of Wednesday.

"Europe has always been about austerity, spending cuts andraising taxes, but with this rate cut decision we see a genuineshift towards a focus on growth," said Ben Taylor, sales traderat the Sydney-based CMC Markets.

Brent crude was 17 cents lower at $102.68 a barrelby 0248 GMT, while U.S. crude for June delivery was down19 cents a barrel at $93.80 a barrel.

Both contracts jumped around 3 percent overnight in theirbiggest single-day rally in almost six months.

Oil prices got a shot in the arm on Thursday after the ECBcut interest rates to record lows and from a report showing U.S.jobless claims dropped sharply to a five-year low -- indicatingthe job market was still healing in the world's largest economyand top oil consumer.

The ECB, which lowered its main rate by a quarter percentagepoint to a record low 0.50 percent, said it would prime bankswith as much liquidity as they need until at least July 2014 andlook at ways to boost lending to smaller companies, which arethe lifeblood of Europe's economies but have been starved ofcredit in many countries.

"This will likely encourage banks to lend and it willbenefit small and medium enterprises. If they expand and thenhire, it will go towards bringing down the unemployment number,"CMC Market's Taylor said.

With the ECB and Fed decisions out of the way, investors arenow turning their attention towards key U.S. nonfarm payrollsdata expected later in the day.

A Reuters poll showed that U.S. nonfarm payrolls may haverisen by 145,000 in April after hitting a nine-month low of88,000 in March, but a lower-than-forecast increase in privatehiring from Wednesday's ADP National Employment Report raisesthe risk of a smaller number.

"This is going to be key for the week, if we get a reallystrong number then we are going to see even further momentum onoil," Taylor said.

However, weak manufacturing activity in the United Statesand China is still clouding the outlook for oil demand from thetop two consumers.

"I think the PMIs which we've seen this week still remindsus that in China we still need to see further evidence ofstabilisation, and in the U.S. we want to see signs that is alittle less stop-start," Taylor said.